


from now on

by Anonymous



Category: Wanna One (Band)
Genre: AU, Doctor minhyun, M/M, Slightly - Freeform, mute seongwoo, nielwink, ongwinklin are bros, the mainstream plot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-17
Updated: 2018-12-17
Packaged: 2019-09-20 21:03:44
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,741
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17029983
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/
Summary: communicating through signs and notes,and kisses.





	from now on

**Author's Note:**

> it was an exo fanfic i wrote back then in 2014 and i removed the rated scene since i was still young back then i dont think black records written by a young writer in the past needs to be put here lols

It took Minhyun more than a week to realise that the man who sold roses in the front park of the hospital he recently worked at never spoke a word. The man always held up a white cardboard with **“ROSES!!! 1 stem = ₩2000! 10 stems = ₩15000!!”** written on it with some doodles of red and blue flowers. A basket of colourful roses in his hand.

It was his usual lunch break with Daniel, a fellow young doctor who also graduated from the same university. After having a lunch together in the nearby café, they were sitting on a park bench across from the bench where the flower man was sitting—flower man, yeah, that sounded just so goddamn right.

Minhyun sipped the tea in the cup he was holding and crossed his legs, his eyes wouldn’t leave the man who was patting a kid’s head and giving him two red roses, after the kid left with his father who said thanks to him, he waved them goodbye and counted the money he got from all the roses he sold that day.

Daniel snickered and poked his cheek. Minhyun turned his head.

“What?”

“Don’t stare at him intensely like that,” he said.

“What?”

“I know that he’s cute, but I’ve heard some rumours about him, you know,” Daniel whispered.

“What?” Minhyun asked, this one with a curious tone, as he sipped his tea again.

“Don’t you ‘what’ me again after this!” Daniel huffed. “You see, I heard from the nurses that he seduces the doctors here with his beauty. And I even heard that he has an affair with that sinister looking dr. Lee…”

Minhyun spewed out the tea in his mouth and sprayed it all over Daniel’s clothes, and even his face. Daniel jumped out of his seat to avoid the rest.

“What the fuck, it’s fucking hot!”

“Sorry, what?”

Minhyun asked as he looked at Daniel apologetically. He coughed and wiped his mouth with his white shirt’s sleeve, the action left a brown stain of tea. Daniel ignored him because in the next second he ran towards the hospital and shouted, “Bathroom!”

Minhyun sighed and stood up. He was considering on going back to the hospital, but he stopped after a step to take a look at the man who was looking at the direction where Daniel ran with an amazed face, and then him.

He looked at Minhyun. And a smile bloomed on his face.

For a few seconds, Minhyun just stood there and stared at him, but the man still smiled brightly. Minhyun smiled back and hesitantly approached the man. He sat down beside the man who took his flower basket and put it on his lap. Minhyun just stared at him doing whatever he was doing. So, the man suddenly turned his head towards Minhyun again with a wider smile, he took the cardboard beside him and showed it to Minhyun. It was the **“ROSES!!! 1 stem = ₩2000! 10 stems = ₩15000!!”** sign again.

“Uh… no? Thank you,” Minhyun raised a hand.

The man opened his mouth. Minhyun expected something to come out but he just opened his mouth and nodded, and then he put his attention to the flowers again.

It was almost a minute of silence. They were just sitting there, and Minhyun felt an itch on his butt. Actually, Minhyun also expected the man to at least talk to him because he was kind of desperate to know him. Oh shit, what did he just…? Forget that.

“What’s your name?”

He wanted to drill his palm on his face right after he blurted that question out. The man stopped his activity and turned once again towards him. He looked at Minhyun’s blank face and smiled. He fished something out from the pocket of his jacket, a note and a pen. He put the pen down beside him and opened the first page of the note then showed it to Minhyun.

Minhyun stared at him questioningly, then he scrutinised the letters on the paper.

\- hello, my name is Seongwoo ( ͒ •ω• ͒)ノ

And Minhyun blinked a few times, conveying an answer on a paper when the person who was talking to you was right in front of you was plain rude. “Uh, excuse me,” he said as he raised one of his eyebrows, hoping the man would understand.

The man opened the second page and showed it to him again.

\- im a mute hehehe ( ﾟ∀ﾟ)

Minhyun was taken aback. He emitted a weird noise from his throat for a moment. Judging by the way he answered him by immediately flipping the first and second pages without even needing to write it down already told Minhyun that the man was already used being asked such questions frequently.

“O-oh, sorry…”

The man opened some more pages, he was looking for a page with a good reply to his apology, and he brightened up when he found one and decided to show it to him.

\- ITS OK!!! (´• ε • ｀)

Then he opened some pages again, and stopped on a blank page. This time he scribbled something down with his pen.

\- so whats ur name? ive given u mine

Minhyun contemplated for a few seconds before reaching his hands out to take the note from Seongwoo’s hands, but Seongwoo pulled away, confused. Minhyun’s hands kept chasing his hands with an expression that said ‘It’s okay, give it to me!’ until Seongwoo gave up and Minhyun got the note. He put the note down on his lap and wrote his name on it.

\- Call me Minhyun. Nice to meet you.

He showed it to Seongwoo. Seongwoo smiled brightly and took the note from him.

\- nice to meet u, minhyunie!

Seongwoo wrote something on it again before Minhyun had the chance to snatch his note.

\- you r a new doc here? i c you only recently!!

\- Yeah, I’m a new doctor here. Pardon me if I’m rude, but how old are you?

\- 24!!! how bout you?

Minhyun choked on his spit. The man wrote like a high school teenager. Minhyun sighed and wrote his age down.

\- 24. A doctor since earlier this year. So you sell flowers here every day?

\- oooo were ze same age zen! yeah! i sell flowers! got the permission!

\- Oh. So, you know some doctors here?

\- i know a plethora!!! which department are you in?

\- I see. I haven’t had any speciality, but I think I’m going to be an Obstetrician.

\- … the one who helps pregnant women?

\- Yes. Problem?

Seongwoo covered his mouth with his hands and turned around. He laughed. No sound came out, but Minhyun was sure that he laughed. Minhyun swore Seongwoo's shoulders were shaking.

“Is it funny?” Minhyun spoke since Seongwoo didn’t face him.

Seongwoo turned around, he looked a bit startled by the sudden use of voice. He wrote.

\- sorry, wasnt expecting that! lol!

Minhyun rolled his eyes. He took the note and scribbled down.

\- It's okay. I’m going to work. Last words: Learn how to write properly.

Reading that, Seongwoo pouted and puffed his cheeks.

 

* * *

 

For two months, the conversation carried on, on the same bench—well, sometimes the other benches. Minhyun learned that Seongwoo wasn’t born with the disability. Seongwoo became a mute after he got into an accident a few years ago. If he weren’t a doctor, he would still think that such tragedy would only happen in a drama.

Seongwoo worked for the flower shop three blocks away from the hospital. He was living with two little brothers, Lai Guanlin and Park Jihoon, yes, different family names. Apparently Seongwoo didn’t even know where his parents were because he grew up together with his brothers in the same orphanage.

Minhyun also noted that Seongwoo was a good guy. For several times, whether it was from one of the hospital’s windows or right in front of him, he encountered the sights of Seongwoo helping senior citizens, playing with the kids in the park, chatting with some patients using his pen and note to accompany their boring waits in the hospital.

Minhyun also learned that Seongwoo was fluent in sign language, so they decided to drop the note and try to exchange words with it. Minhyun was glad that he also learned sign language back then in the university, though he was not as fluent as Jaehwan—this was why he pestered Jaehwan, who works in different hospital, for the past few days just to teach him some signs he had already forgotten… scratch that, he had forgotten most of it, but he believed that he was a freaking genius in a way so in a few days he learned a lot. But still, sometimes, with his potato level sign language, he couldn’t even understand what Seongwoo tried to convey so the man had to write it down on the note, and Minhyun used his own mouth to speak most of the time. To be honest with himself, the way Minhyun used sign language reminded himself of a middle high schooler trying to talk in English to a native—reminded himself of Seongwoo’s terrible way of writing.

[Let me take you to the flower shop.]

Minhyun told Seongwoo after tapping the other male’s shoulder when he saw the man packing his stuff inside a medium cardboard box. Seongwoo put his box down and looked like he was mulling over the offer. He refused him by shaking his head.

[You don’t need to. You must be tired. Thank you.]

[It’s okay. I’m not tired at all.] And added a bit of smile.

It took Seongwoo a while to nod his head and let Minhyun take his hand in one hand and, surprisingly, his box in the other hand before he even had the chance to protest.

"It's okay, let me bring this for you," Minhyun said.

Seongwoo already knew that Minhyun was from a well off family—well, for some reason, almost all doctors were—but he didn’t know that Minhyun was this well off. He couldn’t shut his mouth close ever since he saw Minhyun’s shiny car. His mouth was forming an ‘o’ shape. Minhyun chuckled and earned an embarrassed glance from the other.

Since he already knew the name of the flower shop Seongwoo worked at—it was pretty close from the hospital after all—so he didn’t need to ask more. When they arrived in front of a small flower shop, he stopped his car.

“This is the place, right?” he asked, turned his head towards Seongwoo who was smiling at him.

Seongwoo nodded and mouthed ‘thank you’.

“You’re welcome,” he smiled back.

Seongwoo was about to open the door before Minhyun’s hand stopped him, Seongwoo turned back at him. Minhyun took some notes from his wallet out of the blue and slipped it inside Seongwoo’s pocket, Seongwoo looked utterly confused. Minhyun then took a stalk of soft pink coloured rose, plucked a dried petal, cut the stem and left a few centimetres of it then tucked it behind Seongwoo’s ear. That was when Seongwoo came into realisation. His face turned red when Minhyun spoke.

“Good luck.”

Seongwoo hit him playfully then opened the door and got out of the car. He kept his head down even when he reached the shop. He waited for Seongwoo to completely disappear behind the shop’s door before stepping on his pedal.

 

* * *

 

The next day was unexpected. On lunch break, instead of the park, he found Seongwoo sitting on one of the chairs in the hospital’s lobby, flower bucket on his lap, fiddling with his fingers, listening to a lady beside him who was chatting non-stop about her children—it was a one-sided conversation. What made Minhyun conceal his laugh though, was the rose flower crown on the man’s head. After the lady walked away and waved her hand at Seongwoo—and Seongwoo waved back at her awkwardly, Minhyun approached Seongwoo and stood in front of him. When Seongwoo noticed him, his face turned red for no reason. Minhyun touched the flower crown on his head.

[What makes you wear this?] he asked in sign language.

[The owner thought that the flower yesterday looked cute on my head. So she arranged flower crowns and forced her employees to wear it.]

Minhyun chuckled. Seongwoo was flustered, he tried to ignore him by staring at his own feet, covered in black sneakers, a gift from his brothers on his birthday a few months ago.

“Hey,” Minhyun called out, he put his hand under Seongwoo’s chin but he refused to look up.

“It’s okay, that flower crown makes you look cuter,” he teased. Seongwoo covered his face with his hands. Minhyun laughed at the way Seongwoo's ears turned bright red.

“Anyway, what are you doing here? It’s unusual,” he asked.

Seongwoo finally looked up to answer. [I’m accompanying my brother.]

[Which brother? Is he sick?]

Seongwoo spelled out the name with his fingers. [J-i-h-u-n. He was hit by a car this morning.]

[What? Is he okay?]

[He’s okay, just some scratches.]

[You’re not going to report the driver?]

Seongwoo shook his head and crossed his hands. [No. He immediately brought my brother here and paid for everything. Must be thankful. He’s a doctor here.]

Minhyun raised one of his eyebrows, curious. [Who?]

Seongwoo spelled out a name again. [K-a-n-g D-a-n-i-e-l.]

Minhyun palmed his face.

 

* * *

 

“I was still sleepy, _hyung_ , and it was still dark I didn’t know that Jihoonie was on the sidewalk,” Daniel whined as he put a slice of bread covered in corn jam into his mouth.

Minhyun eyed him, an eyebrow raised. “How did you even get your car on the sidewalk?”

Daniel shrugged and looked away.

“It was okay, really. It was just a few scratches,” Jihoon interrupted. “I’ve told him that he didn’t need to rush me to the hospital but he insisted…” he trailed off when Minhyun glared at him and then he grinned sheepishly.

“Are you siding him? Did you mind having some cracked bones?” he said then turned his gaze back to Daniel who was in the process of putting a cherry into his mouth. “You sure the road was empty? You could’ve lost your driving license.” And received a thumb up as an answer.

Meanwhile Seongwoo was staring at them, quietly munching on his bread and slurping on his tomato soup, flower crown and flower bucket were put under the table. They were seated inside the café Minhyun and Daniel usually visit for a late lunch. It was Daniel’s invitation to make everything up—Minhyun hit his head.

Minhyun drank his tea, he turned his head to look at Seongwoo who was digging on his cake after finishing his tomato soup. How could a grown up man looked cute? And he felt both terrible and regretful that he hadn’t taken him out for a meal even after all the time they had spent together in the park.

Daniel and Jihoon looked at each other at the way Minhyun stared at Seongwoo and threw questioning looks towards each other. Daniel shrugged before he raised his hand to call a waitress for his bill. Jihoon went back to eating his cake. A waitress came to their table.

“The bill for me and these two please,” Daniel pointed towards Jihoon and Seongwoo. “dr. Hwang will pay on his own,” he smiled widely.

Minhyun turned his head towards Daniel immediately. He looked surprised. But he sighed eventually and rolled his eyes. Yes, of course, that was obvious. Why did he expect Daniel to pay for him too?

Daniel smiled at Jihoon. “Jihoonie,” he called out. “I got dr. Lee’s permission to send you home.”

“Um… what about Seongwoo-hyung?” Jihoon looked at Seongwoo.

[Working.] Seongwoo answered then went back to his cake.

“Oh, okay,” Jihoon pouted.

Daniel scrunched his forehead in confusion, he didn't know what they were talking about because he had zero knowledge about sign language. He wanted to ask but he didn’t want to be rude. Well even though he was Daniel, he still respected people like Seongwoo.

“He said that he still had work to do,” Minhyun translated.

“You understand?” Daniel whispered with wide eyes, he looked kind of surprised.

Minhyun squinted. “It was a subject back then in the university.”

“Oh, I didn’t take that class,” Daniel grinned. “I only knew this rumour that there was this legendary student who mastered it in a semester.”

“That was Jaehwan.”

“Oh. Whatever. Jihoonie,” he turned to Jihoon with a wide smile. “I will take you home!”

For a victim, Jihoon was all too friendly with the one who had just practically hit him with a car. He got up and followed Daniel, he even tugged at the sleeve of the older male’s shirt as they walked towards the door.

 

* * *

 

It was autumn but the night decided to fall earlier than it was in winter. After work, Minhyun found Seongwoo sitting on the usual park bench, eating a candy, under the streetlamp. The park was already dark and quiet. He smiled and sat beside him when the male noticed his presence.

[I’m sorry about D-a-n-i-e-l this morning.]

He spoke to Daniel once more when he came back to the hospital, and the younger man looked very annoyed because Minhyun kept giving him speech about safety ride and his clumsiness and doctor’s ethic codes and everything. And also, Daniel had admitted that what he said about the Seongwoo rumour back then was a bullshit he made up to discourage Minhyun.

[It’s ok.] Seongwoo answered with a smile.

Minhyun raised his hands, he hesitated for a moment, but then he put them down and spoke, “You didn’t wear the flower crown?” He suddenly decided to give up on his pathetic and rigid sign language.

[Gave it to a little girl.]

“I can make a new one for you,” he said and laughed softly when he got [Please don’t.] as a response and a weak punch on his upper arm.

He didn’t speak anymore. He looked at Seongwoo who was picking his empty basket up and putting it on his lap then zipping the unzipped bit of his jacket up. The light from the street lamp showered over him, hovered over his long eyelashes, casted a shadow under his eyes, rested on his cheek, and his porcelain skin was kind of emitting a soft glow, his honey coloured hair turned golden. Minhyun couldn’t avert his eyes. He had to admit that he was surprised by the discovery. He had just realised that Seongwoo was this beautiful, and seeing Seongwoo basking under a streetlamp’s light strangely took his breath away. How could a human resemble an angel?

It took him a few seconds to realise that he had been closing the distance between them. The first time he realised it was when his face was right in front of Seongwoo’s face. Seongwoo looked surprised, eyes widened, lips a bit opened. Damn, Minhyun thought when he eyed the lips, he had to swallow the lump in his throat. He wished a mistletoe would magically appear above them but it was not even Christmas.

Screw mistletoe, he thought.

He slowly closed the distance between them. When their lips touched, Minhyun’s breath was hitched. Seongwoo’s eyes were still wide for a moment, but then he slowly closed his eyes as if he was hit by lethargy. Seongwoo’s lips were really soft and warm. Minhyun put his hand on Seongwoo’s nape. Seongwoo shuddered at the warmth and he could feel it. When he was about to lick the lower lip, Seongwoo’s hand pushed him away by his chest. He frowned and moved his head away. He looked at Seongwoo who opened his eyelids slowly and stared at him. Seongwoo put his index finger on Minhyun’s lips, shaking his head.

“Why?” Minhyun asked in a whisper.

Seongwoo dropped his hand and looked down on his lap, then looked up at him. He made some gestures.

[Please don’t.]

“Why?” Minhyun asked once more. He swallowed. “I think I like you,” he confessed.

Seongwoo made his gestures in a slow but smooth manner. And Minhyun’s eyes captured his every movements.

[You’re a doctor. You have a bright future. I don’t. I’m a mute.]

He paused for a while then added, [You probably like me out of sympathy because I’m a mute. I’m okay with that. But you don’t need to do that.]

“No, I don’t.”

Minhyun then realised, that maybe even if Seongwoo could talk, he might still be fallen for him.

Seongwoo sighed and gathered all of his belongings, he was about to stand up but Minhyun’s hand held him down. He looked at Minhyun.

“I’ll send you home,” he said. “I’ll accompany you to the flower shop and then send you home.”

Seongwoo shook his head.

“Please?” Minhyun found himself begging and being desperate.

He received no answer, Seongwoo was just looking at the empty flower basket on his lap and blinking. Minhyun decided to just pull him away from the park towards the parking lot, startling the other. Seongwoo was stupefied and had no space to protest when Minhyun pushed him inside the car.

True to his words, Minhyun waited outside the shop. Seongwoo sighed when he took a glance outside the window and saw Minhyun’s car was still parked there. He opened the door and decided to just walk away and pretend that Minhyun’s car wasn’t there. But the car followed him. Minhyun opened the car’s window.

“What are you doing? Get in.”

He saw Seongwoo’s hesitation, so he moved to open the door, but Seongwoo saw his movement and got into the car immediately, he really didn’t want to be forced to get into the car when doing it by himself didn’t hurt.

“Where’s your house?” Minhyun asked.

 

* * *

 

Minhyun was seated in the middle of Seongwoo’s living room, Jihoon made him a cup of tea and invited him to their dinner—which he responded with “I have no choice if you insist” when Jihoon actually didn’t even insist. When they arrived, to Seongwoo’s surprise, Minhyun made his own way to knock at the door, and when they got inside the house, Seongwoo immediately jumped over his youngest brother, Guanlin, who was surprisingly as tall as Minhyun or maybe a bit taller. Seongwoo was all cuddly with Guanlin. Seongwoo seemed to be trying to ignore him, he moved to the kitchen with Guanlin immediately, [I will cook with him.] was raised as his defence. And Jihoon was the one he pushed to accompany Minhyun in the living room.

“How are your injuries?” Minhyun asked as he took the small cup of tea Jihoon put in front of him.

“Ah, I’m fine, really,” he answered as he touched the bandage on his ankle.

Minhyun nodded and sipped his tea.

“Seongwoo-hyung always told us about you,” Jihoon blurted out. “Thank you for taking care of my brother,” he smiled sweetly.

Minhyun cleared his throat. “It’s nothing. All we do everyday is just chatting.”

“Still. Thank you. He said that you even used his note and also sign language. I’m thankful when people care about him. Well, it’s only natural, seeing his condition, people will always want to take care of him,” Jihoon said. “But what people fail to see is that he also takes care of people.”

True, Minhyun admitted inside his mind.

“But sometimes he’s too self-conscious,” Jihoon muttered in a tone somewhere above whisper. “When people give him too much attention, he will, um… retreat. Because he thinks that they are too caring and thinks of their cares as sympathy. He doesn’t like sympathy.”

Oh. “Oh,” Minhyun spoke. He leaned forward. “And why are you telling me this?” he asked. He was curious because, coincidentally, what Jihoon had just said kinda happened to him a while ago.

Jihoon stared at his own lap and fiddled with his fingers, the same endearing gesture Seongwoo did, but with different feeling attached to it. If Seongwoo hadn’t told him that they were not biological brothers, Minhyun would’ve thought that they were ones. Jihoon raised his head and gave him a genuine smile.

“Seongwoo-hyung seems to like you… a lot,” he bit his lips as he said that. “I hope you won’t show him blatant sympathy. I mean… he would be sad if you did…”

Silence lingered for a while before Jihoon spoke up again.

“I’m sorry.”

“Why?” Minhyun asked.

“Pardon?”

“Why are you apologising?” Minhyun detailed his question.

Jihoon licked his dry lips. “Because… he likes you. I mean, you’re a doctor and he…”

Minhyun sighed loudly and rolled his eyes. It only happened in a day and he was already tired of it.

“I bet you two are actually biological brothers,” Minhyun grumbled.

“Um, excuse me?” Jihoon tilted his head in surprise.

Minhyun really wanted to flick his fingers on Jihoon’s forehead—and Seongwoo's too if possible at the moment. But then Guanlin’s voice interrupted them from the kitchen in an unintended rescue.

“Jihoon-hyung, let’s eat!” he called.

Jihoon replied with a loud “Okay!” and he motioned Minhyun to get into the dining room. Minhyun entered the small room, he saw Seongwoo arranging the plates on the table. He sat in front of Seongwoo, beside him was Jihoon. Both Jihoon and Guanlin were sweet kids, he noted. They also doted on Seongwoo.

The two brothers were chatting non stop with Minhyun. They told him about them a lot, and even about Seongwoo. Guanlin was a freshman in the law major, and Jihoon was in his senior year in the literature major, both were in the same university with the same scholarship. Meanwhile Seongwoo had to sacrifice his school life because of his disability. They said that Seongwoo was smart enough to enter a university with his disability but he didn’t even try to overcome his flaw, Jihoon even knocked the older’s head in front of Minhyun to convey his vexation. But Seongwoo was always quiet when he was stuffing his stomach. His face this time wasn’t as happy as when Daniel treated him though. And it made Minhyun kind of sad.

The dinner ended too quickly, Minhyun thought. He always found himself glancing at Seongwoo whenever he could. Even though Seongwoo was really quiet and didn’t even try to communicate with his family or Minhyun at the dining table, and he also immediately ran to his room after the dinner ended, he surprised Minhyun by appearing behind him out of the blue and pulling his sleeve at the entrance when Minhyun was about to go home. Jihoon retreated at the sight and pulled Guanlin along with him.

Minhyun turned his back and scrunched his eyebrows when Seongwoo warped a brown coloured scarf on his neck. After fixing the scarf on him, Seongwoo stepped back.

[Ugly scarf. But it’s cold outside.]

And immediately ran inside and slammed the door close. Minhyun smiled.

 

* * *

 

The doctors, and even the nurses, commented about the scarf he was wearing that day. “What kind of catwalk are you walking on today?” Daniel mocked and laughed at him. Minhyun didn’t care though. Since he got a text from Jihoon the night before—they had exchanged numbers after dinner, when Seongwoo was still in his room—saying that ‘The scarf is Seongwoo-hyung’s favourite, he was silly so he knitted it himself for his own birthday. He told me (uh… indirectly) that you didn’t have to return it, so please take care of it’. He spent his vacant time by tracing the ‘Ong.’ embroidered on the scarf with red threads. He even absentmindedly kissed the letter.

He didn’t tag along with Daniel for the lunch time that day and opted to go to the cafeteria. When he stepped out from the building, the sky was already dark. When he was passing by the park, he saw Seongwoo sitting on the usual bench, where he had kissed him the afternoon before. He might look shameless because he wore the scarf he was actually supposed to give back immediately. But he decided to let it slip when he saw Seongwoo from a close distance. Seongwoo’s head low, fiddling with his fingers, all of his stuffs were packed in the cardboard box under the bench. And Minhyun didn’t fail to notice the wet stain on his lap.

“Seongwoo?” he called out softly.

Seongwoo raised his head to look at him. Minhyun felt his heart stopped beating for a moment at the sight. Seongwoo’s face was wet, tears were pouring down, cheeks were red and eyelids were puffy. He bowed his head again to wipe the tears away with his jacket’s sleeve, he then stood up and was about to take the box out from underneath the bench. But Minhyun pulled him back, Seongwoo lacked strength, so he fell into Minhyun’s arms.

“What happened?”

Minhyun asked but there was no answer. Seongwoo stayed in his arms. He heard no noise but he could feel the front of his shirt turned damp and the tremble underneath his palms. Minhyun shushed Seongwoo and stroked his hair. It took a few minutes for Seongwoo to calm down. He did nothing to refuse or protest when Minhyun pulled him towards his car. When they were inside the car, Minhyun asked him once more, but Seongwoo turned his face away from him and looked out of the window instead. That was when Minhyun decided to step on the pedal towards his own house.

 

* * *

 

“Don’t ignore me,” Minhyun whispered.

It had been around two hours since they departed from the hospital. Seongwoo was quiet since then, he didn’t even cry anymore, but his eyes were still puffy and a bit swollen. At first, when they sat on the couch of his living room, Minhyun only planned to hold him all night to comfort him. But he couldn’t stand the opportunity of kissing Seongwoo all over when he carried him into his room and the other male was sprawled on his bed, looking like a perfect porcelain doll basking in the moonlight that came in from his glass windows.

He told Seongwoo to spill and tell him everything. But he got no response. So when he kissed Seongwoo senselessly, it was actually out of his frustration because the only thing Seongwoo did was staring at him with those shiny glass beads. He was the one with frustrated breaths when he took Seongwoo’s jacket off and unbuttoned his shirt, and Seongwoo only stared at him, and Minhyun stared back.

“Seongwoo, stop me,” he had warned.

Seongwoo turned his gaze towards the ceiling. And that was the last bit of Minhyun’s self-restraint. Seongwoo didn’t deny him at all, but he was quiet as Minhyun buried his face in the crook of his neck and kissed there.

Shivers ran down Seongwoo’s spine, right under the tips of Minhyun’s touch. The soft breath on his ear, the sound of palpitating heart, and the tears that leaked out when he claimed Seongwoo’s lips. Minhyun was kind of flabbergasted when Seongwoo finally responded by wrapping his arms around his neck. This was supposed to be awkward since he was the only one emitting sound. Yet, he loved the feeling of Seongwoo’s lips on his own and the other man’s hands on his back.

“Seongwoo.”

He wiped away the tears on Seongwoo’s face. He kissed the reddened lips and put his hand on the small of Seongwoo’s back, the other hand was on his thigh. Seongwoo scrunched his eyebrows when Minhyun pulled awan.

‘Minhyun.’

Minhyun watched in awe as Seongwoo mouthed his name without a sound. Seongwoo slowly reciprocated the kisses and started tugging at the taller man’s shirt, asking for him to take it off too.

Letting out a low chuckle, Minhyun complied. He kissed the man underneath him again as he unbuttoned his own shirt.

 

* * *

 

He licked his lips when he saw Seongwoo’s face basked in moonlight that came from the window. Their noses touched and lips were so close. Seongwoo had been looking at his eyes for a while. When Minhyun asked why, Seongwoo only shook his head, and his eyes turned glassy. He embraced Seongwoo and kissed the tip his nose.

“It’s okay if you don’t want to tell me anything right now,” he said.

‘Okay,’ Seongwoo mouthed.

Minhyun smiled, stroked his hair, and wiped the damp locks on his forehead. He was too focused on Seongwoo’s dark hair, but he noticed the movement of his lips.

“Hm?” he raised his eyebrows as he focused on Seongwoo’s lips.

Seongwoo contemplated for a moment and mouthed it once more. But Minhyun couldn’t recite it. Seeing the confusion on Minhyun’s face frustrated Seongwoo. He clutched the cream coloured blanket covering them and bit his lower lip. He tried so hard to vocalise but he couldn’t, so he let his tears fall down.

Minhyun muttered an apology. He tried to calm Seongwoo down. When Seongwoo had calmed down, the first thing he did was raising a fist, then respectively unfolded his pinky, index finger, and thumb, and folded the thumb once again while mouthing the word he tried to convey once again. And Minhyun’s breath was caught in his throat.

“Okay, I understand,” Minhyun said, a bit stuttering. Both of his hands stroked Seongwoo’s soft cheeks. “I love you too, you have no idea.”

Seongwoo put his head on Minhyun’s chest, feeling his heartbeat, which was surprisingly not as calm as his demeanour. He felt a hand stroking his head, and then he closed his eyes. The silence was starting to lull him, but it didn’t last long as Minhyun broke it.

“You know,” Minhyun spoke and felt the batting of Seongwoo’s eyelashes on his chest. “Fuck obstetrics.”

Seongwoo looked up at him with scrunched eyebrows, wondering what suddenly made Minhyun bring that up. Minhyun sighed and spoke again.

“I will try to―I mean, I will definitely cure you,” he said.

It took a few seconds before Seongwoo’s eyes widened in realisation. He shook his head vigorously and tried to speak.

‘It’s fine,’ he mouthed.

Minhyun smiled. “No. It’s okay,” he said, kissing the tip of Seongwoo’s button nose and continued, “I want and I will hear your voice one day.”

Seongwoo’s eyes were glassy. He nodded and mouthed, ‘Promise?’

“I promise,” Minhyun smiled as he stroked Seongwoo’s pink cupid bow with his thumb. “I promise,” he emphasised.

Seongwoo closed his eyes and let his tears drop. Minhyun wiped them away and embraced him.

Minhyun kissed his lips. “Let me take care of you.”


End file.
